Owning and expressing emotions

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All of us experience a range of emotions every day, and children and adolescents are no different. Sometimes owning and expressing emotions can be difficult. A simple, yet effective way to communicate individual feelings and needs verbally, is using “I-Statements”. Encouraging children to express their feelings using these type of messages will allow them to recognize and identify their emotions. I-Statements also offer more opportunities for positive communication and solutions as the “blame cycle” is minimized, e.g. “you never let me do …..”.

The attached PDF file offers some examples of how I-Statements can be structured to allow the person to express their emotions and feel heard.

Anna-Catharina Lieke
Counseling Intern

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